Genre story · Rock
Stoner Rock
Sabbath-sized riffs, desert generator parties and long, mind-bending jams.
Stoner rock is a heavy branch of hard rock: slow to mid-tempo, heavily distorted and built on the riff. MusicBrainz files it under hard rock; Wikipedia describes a rock fusion of doom metal with psychedelic and acid rock; and AllMusic, like many metal writers, knows the same sound as stoner metal.
From Sabbath to the desert
Its roots run back to Blue Cheer and Black Sabbath, whose Master of Reality (1971) is often cited as the first stoner album. The style itself took shape in early-1990s California, pioneered above all by Kyuss and Sleep.
Kyuss formed in Palm Desert in 1987 and played desert “generator parties,” with gas generators powering the gear. 1992 brought two defining records, Kyuss' Blues for the Red Sun and Sleep's Holy Mountain. By 2000, Queens of the Stone Age's Rated R had carried the sound toward the mainstream – though the band rejects the label.
The name may come from Roadrunner Records' 1997 compilation Burn One Up! Music for Stoners, and not everyone embraced it: Saint Vitus' Wino dismissed “stoner rock” as just a new media handle.
The sound
Expect slow to mid tempos, a heavily distorted, groove-laden and bass-heavy sound, melodic vocals and deliberately retro production. Kyuss ran guitar through a bass amp for extra heft. Jim DeRogatis heard the live intensity of blues-rockers like Cream and the Yardbirds meeting psychedelic studio invention.
MusicBrainz names three influences – blues rock, doom metal and psychedelic rock – and Metal Music Archives hears the same mix: doom's sludgy riffing, psychedelic rock's fuzzy distortion, blues rock and southern rock.
Connections
- It belongs to Hard Rock as a subgenre, adding doom's weight and psychedelic fuzz to blues-rock riffing.
- With Stoner Metal, it makes up the Stoner family – two names for one sound that writers often use interchangeably.
- Desert Rock is its regional offshoot, tied to the Palm Desert scene; the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably.
Essential recordings
- 1971Black SabbathMaster of RealityOften cited as the first stoner album.
- 1992KyussBlues for the Red SunOne of the style's defining records.
- 1992SleepSleep's Holy MountainWidely considered seminal for stoner metal.